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HP outshipped Palm in Western Europe for the first time during Q3 as a 32 per cent increase in mobile device shipments saw the Pocket PC vendor's PDA shipments leap 94 per cent year on year, market watcher IDC said today.

HP shipped almost 179,000 mobile devices between July and September, 14 per cent of the market, which includes PDAs, smartphones and phone-enabled handhelds such as O2's XDA. Palm shipped almost 166,000, taking 13 per cent of the market. During Q3 2002, the two companies' market shares were nine per cent and 15 per cent, respectively.

Fellow market researcher Canalys offered slightly different figures to IDC, but it too said HP had outshipped Palm.

The news isn't entirely bad for Palm. It shipped eight per cent more PDAs during Q3 than the year-ago quarter. But HP almost doubled the number of units shipped.

IDC suggested the boost experienced by HP was the result of Windows Mobile 2003 devices coming on stream. Palm may see a similar hike this quarter, thanks to the release of its new Tungsten T3 and E devices.

Neither came close to market leader Nokia. It too saw shipments rise year on year, by seven per cent, but like Palm it lost market share: down to 44 per cent from 54 per cent in Q2.

The remaining top five vendors - Sony Ericsson at number four and Medion, which ranked fifth - both came from nowhere in the intervening 12 months to take nine per cent and four per cent of the market, respectively. All other suppliers together accounted for 17 per cent of the market, down from 22 per cent this time last year, despite a five per cent increase in shipments.

While Sony Ericsson is well known outside Europe, Medion is a local German retailer that has built a phenomenal market share on the back of a Pocket PC/GPS bundle.

Sony Ericsson and Nokia togerther took more than half of the market, clearly showing that smartphones rather than PDAs are becoming the mobile data devices of choice among the 1.3 million or so mobile devices shipped during Q3. ®